The Shape I Found You In
by Sunset Moth
Summary: Oneshot, not set in the BTM universe, one-sentence challenge. Azula is the new Fire Lady and Toph is her consort, but as with all relationships, theirs is far from perfect.


Note: I think I quoted some Lestaki there. Just saying.

A few things before I let you read this little one-shot. This one-shot is for Jackie, who got me started on it a few years ago (and agreed with me that Toph/June was kinda cool as well), and for BellaDora Soulmates who got me to finish it. Heh.

It's actually one of those one-sentence sets, although I did try to put a story in it as well. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender owns me. It was never the other way around.

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><p><em>You were delivered to me<em>  
><em>We were closed as the stores on Christmas Eve<em>  
><em>So I felt around in the dark<em>  
><em>Building rope ladders into your heart<em>  
><em>Climbing hand over hand to get in<em>  
><em>That's the shape I found you in<em>

- The Shape I Found You In (Girlyman)

**Beta Set**

#01 - Walking

Toph loves listening to Azula's footsteps, loves hearing the tense back and forth of her stalk as she tackles the day's agendas, loves the gentle vibrations when she comes back into bed, when Azula leans over and kisses her cheek, and falls into a light slumber, her arms around Toph's waist.

#02 - Waltz

Toph hates having Azula lead her, hates those long, angry gazes directed at her as they waltz across the dance floor, but then, at night, Toph finds that she doesn't mind so much anymore, because Azula lets her lead as long as she pleases.

#03 - Wishes

If Azula had a wish, it would be to rule over the rest of the Nations, not just her own Fire Nation, but then she remembers the problems she has to tackle every day, and Toph's constant whining at night, that she doesn't get enough of Azula anymore, and Azula finds herself content with that wish remaining as a wish.

#04 - Wonder

When Azula is in a hot, dreary room, arguing with a bunch of old men who're stubbornly resistant against change, she takes a moment to close her eyes, and remembers the wonder in Toph's face when Azula promises her a weekend excursion to the mountains, just the two of them alone, together.

#05 - Worry

Toph worries about security too much, but only because she hates it, absolutely _hates_ it, when an assassin breaks into Azula's room at night, and Toph has to chase her away, with only a bed sheet for cover.

#06 - Whimsy

Azula thinks that they should just tell the rest of the Aang Gang about their little love affair outright, but Toph would rather they keep that one a secret, not because she's ashamed to tell the others that Azula is her lover, but because she likes those little moments in between ambassador trips—that feel of want and desperation to be in each other's arms, the lust and hunger of Azula's mouth against hers, seeking to fill up those empty spaces when they can only be an arm's length away.

#07 - Waste/Wasteland

Azula still remembers the Earth Kingdom lands the Fire Nation soldiers burned down into ashes, still wants to repent for the sins of her father, but then she remembers Toph showing her a single bud growing in that wasteland of misery and plant-death, and so she feels at ease, if only for a little while.

#08 - Whiskey and Rum

After being introduced to fire water, Toph never quite got into it, and when asked how she managed not to succumb to the temptation of drinking more, Toph reasoned that she was already very much intoxicated to something else, looking meaningfully at Azula's direction as she said so.

#09 - War

Azula isn't the nicest person around, and Toph can't help but wonder sometimes if she made the right decision in choosing her over the others—her friends—but eventually, she would always win the mental argument in her head, and she would continue winning that argument, because she loved Azula too much to lose her now.

#10 - Weddings

Azula hates having suitors around, knowing that what they want is her kingdom and not her, but then Toph reminds her, in that agonizingly patient voice of hers, void of the want and need which Azula so desperately wanted to hear because it made her feel special, that it's her duty some day to provide the Fire Nation an heir.

#11 - Birthdays

Toph hates birthdays, because that would mean having elaborate parties which were always far too noisy with drunken debauchery and horrible singing—always from Sokka, that one—but she endures, if only because Azula promised her something nice, and Toph likes Azula's definition of _something nice_.

#12 – Blessing

Azula sometimes can't help but wonder how she got Toph to love her so, when she's done more bad than good in this world.

#13 – Bias

Azula hates it when They're over, if only because They keep Toph busy, and They don't even give her so much as a glance, because They still hate her for the things she had done in the past and for stealing Toph from Them, but she never tells Toph this because she thinks she's above whining.

#14 – Burning

There's a burning sensation in Toph's stomach—the first time in a long time—as she stepped inside the Fire Palace's massive hallway after years of traveling, struggling to ignore the waves of hunger and desire from Azula, who missed her far more than anyone else in that room.

#15 – Breathing

Sometimes, Toph is content with listening to Azula breathe, feeling the rise and ebb of her chest, because these were the few times when she sees the vulnerable part of Azula that Azula guards so carefully from everyone else.

#16 – Breaking

Azula is furious to find June in Toph's bed, after coming to her room late one night from a tedious meeting, and takes the anger out on Toph, all the while feeling her heart shatter in a thousand pieces, "How could you?"

#17 – Belief

Toph sits in silent vigil outside Azula's door, muttering to herself, "Come back to me."

#18 – Balloon

Eventually, Azula forgives her, and all too soon she is lost underneath Toph's strong arms, and warm, violent kisses, burning against her flesh, and she can't help but feel as if she's floating, floating, floating.

#19 – Balcony

It is the morning after, and Toph finds herself leaning against the balcony, musing about the love that could never be, and the love that's already been.

#20 – Bane

If it weren't for Toph's reassuring words, and her own iron grip control over herself, June would be long gone by now, forever unwelcome in any Fire Nation land.

#21 – Quiet

Toph wants to ask Azula where she's been these past few nights, and why she's been avoiding her touch lately, but she acknowledges Azula's need for some space to breathe and time to think, and keeps quiet.

#22 – Quirks

Azula does not understand what caused Toph to do what she did, and though they've reconciled, she still feels empty and desolate of trust.

#23 – Question

"Is this what it means to love you, Toph?"

#24 – Quarrel

And there is such a gap between them.

#25 – Quitting

Not for the first time does Azula wonder what had possessed her to forgive Toph so easily, but then she sees Toph try so hard to make up for, well, for that sorry _event_, that it's just hard to say no.

#26 – Jump

Finally, she decides, in sudden flighty whim, to take a leap of faith, and leave behind the painful past, even if it means having to trust in the future, however unpredictable it is.

#27 – Jester

As if a mockery of her indecision from the gods, Azula finds, to her utter dismay, June back in Toph's room—_their_ room—this time fully clothed, but wearing that self-same hungry expression on her face.

#28 – Jousting

"This isn't what you think," Toph says, but Azula still answers with a challenge—whoever comes out of the Agni Kai alive wins her love.

#29 – Jewel

The sun glints in the distance when the drums start to beat and the fight begins, and when the dust settles and one stands over the other, a winner is declared.

#30 – Just

Toph is furious of the outcome and tells Azula so; there was no need for her to kill June because it proves nothing, except maybe that Azula was a damn jealous bitch, incapable of restraint.

#31 – Smirk

"Oh but I didn't kill her," Azula says, and sure enough, June stirs from unconsciousness, muttering obscenities under her breath.

#32 – Sorrow

Oh, if only you were to direct that concern to me, if only you understood that I needed to reaffirm my place in our relationship, then perhaps you would not have lost me a second time.

#33 – Stupidity

The Fire Lady is missing, and Toph is left to deal with all the complexities that come with inheriting a kingdom.

#34 – Serenade

In the dark of the night, Toph lies awake on the bed and sings a sweet lullaby her mother used to sing to her, the very same lullaby that she would sing to get Azula to sleep after a particularly terrifying nightmare.

#35 –Sarcasm

Toph ignores the words they send her way—words meant to injure and disparage—focusing instead on the impossible task of reigning control a kingdom that was never hers to begin with, a kingdom that would never accept a foreigner as its sovereign.

#36 – Sordid

Azula sits still on a corner, watching the rain water drip endlessly on a rusting metal cup and hating herself, for the umpteenth time that day, for acting so ridiculously capricious and silly, unbefitting of a woman of her status.

#37 – Soliloquy

It is beneath her dignity to do so, but with no one around to talk to and her own wretched body refusing to follow her commands, Azula finally gives into comforting and consoling, a concept completely alien to her, though to be fair, she is the only person around in need of consolation.

#38 – Sojourn

With hunger projecting bodily needs, it is only a matter of time before Azula left her tiny hovel, her sanctuary, only to stumble upon a most familiar character.

#39 – Share

"My cabbages!"

#40 – Solitary

It doesn't take long for Azula to find a comfortable spot in the wilderness of large thick trees and dead logs and thin-limbed plants and moss—lots and lots of moss—munching on the green leafy vegetable she had stolen.

#41 – Nowhere

It takes her a long time to realize that she is lost, if only because she didn't like admitting to weaknesses, _any_ sort of weaknesses.

#42 – Neutral

Toph wears a passive expression as she reclines on the throne—Azula's throne—her fingers drumming in boredom as she listens to the footfalls of the next squawker she is tasked to listen to.

#43 – Nuance

Something is different about this merchant who grovels before her feet, demanding compensation for a couple of cabbages.

#44 – Near

Toph senses that Azula is not far from where she is, senses it even before the earth could tell her Azula's exact location, senses it because Azula is her home, her guiding star, and her heart always knows where the young woman is, because _home_ is where the heart is.

#45 – Natural

Naturally, Toph is the one who finds Azula.

#46 – Horizon

They sit atop a rocky outcrop in silence, watching the faint slivers of the sun creeping across the jagged horizon, tensely contemplating how to ask the other's forgiveness.

#47 – Valiant

Boldly, Toph turns to Azula and utters the first words, breaking the silence, "I missed you."

#48 – Virtuous

Azula cringes from those words, cringes because of how deeply it had hurt her to hear Toph speak, and with a determined face, promises to herself that she would give everything to Toph, even if it meant never receiving in return.

#49 – Victory

Azula, in a tone that is half-scared and half-desperate, blurts out what is in her mind, allowing Toph the victory of conquering her completely.

#50 – Defeat

With a strangled chuckle, Toph envelopes Azula in a hug, her fingers trailing up and down Azula's shaking shoulders as she whispers that if anyone deserves everything, it is Azula, who has endured so much for her.


End file.
